TIRUCHI
Neglect of illuminated public fountains, which were established with much fanfare in the city as part of the beautification drive, has drawn ire from the residents.
Since Tiruchi, situated on the banks of the Cauvery River, is blessed with good water sources, the Tiruchi City Corporation decided to erect many illuminated fountains, as in Bengaluru and Mysuru, in the city when N. Ravichandran was the Commissioner.
A New Delhi-based consultant was roped in to study the infrastructure for preparing suitable design and model for the beautification drive. It identified 16 locations, mostly traffic roundabouts and inter junctions in the city, to erect colorful illuminated water fountains.
In the first phase, the civic body installed fountains at Central Bus Stand, Williams Road traffic signal, Bharathidasan Road roundabout, Thiruvanaikoil Checkpost and Chathiram Bus Stand. They were erected one after another within a span of about a year in 2018-19. The civic body spent a sum of about ₹ 1.47 crore using funds sanctioned under the Smart City Mission. In addition, the Corporation planned to erect 10 more water fountains at various roundabout and traffic signals.
The fountains, which were operated in the evenings, added beauty to the city. But, residents now complain that except one or two, the fountains have been hardly put to use. With the fountains remained unused for months, the pipes with numerous holes to circulate and re-circulate water with the sets of sequences have become rusty, they say.
“The purpose of erection of fountains is defeated. They should be put to proper use immediately,” said N. Jamaludeen of Thennur, a civic activist.
